NUCKS SHOULDA WON 3-2 BUT HOUSE RULES
After last Thursday's historic, vital win over the USSA (Ugly Soviet States of America), woulda been nice to keep the Canucks win streak going.
Not to be. No Demmers, No Huggie and not much puck luck.
The boards in Vegas are rigged. We now have visual confirmation. But we won't know that until the 3rd.
1ST
Nucks were rusty to start. None more rusty than Myers, who spent 2 weeks drinking to forget how line changes work.
Nucks took too many too many men penalties - one from Myers brainfart and another farty brain from Soup. The 3rd Nucking penalty was caused by Myers - over the glass. I know, that's a penalty now?
Eesh...2 too much man in the first... doesn't bode well if they don't figure that out.
Twitch
The good news, despite getting outshot and outplayed the Knighties couldn't score, even on 3 PP chances.
Great PK though.
Atty
I hope that will count for something, later in the game.
It didn't. But at least the Nucks PK preserved the tie.
0-0 after 1.
2ND
Good start in the 2nd for the Nucks. Get the 1st goal of the game. Sherwood fakes for the wraparound and Hill bites -swings his stick at nothing. Sherrly passes to Jake who scores! On the road.
WOOOO DEBRUSK!!!
Twitch
And that concludes the Nucks scoring on the night. Cup contending teams can win 1-nothing games.
Nucks aren't that team. Yet.
Not when the Nucks can't clear the puck out of their own end when Myers is busy trying to recall all those pesky rules and blows his chance to clear. As does Sherwood... and Soup... he watches the puck carefully as it rebounds off Lanky to a Vegas player who shall not be named and Soup's watched puck is in the net. Much different than watched kettles.
1-1 after 40 minutes. And game already lost.
3RD
In the 3rd, guess what?
Yup. Vegas breaks the tie. In the 1st 18 seconds of the game. Because... as promised... the Vegas boards are rigged. And worse, former Canadian hero (kinda) Stone interferes with Lanky while the rigged puck bounces off the rigged boards and right onto a Saad stick. And past an out-of-position Lanky.
Even more saad was Gnarland giving up on the back check... tied up the Saads in center ice... but just glided as the Saad skated hard into the Nucks zone. To score the GWG.
Altho the Nucks came back and scored 2 goals. That didn't count. Because goalie interference on Hoagie as he was pushed and fell over the Hill, who coulda made the stop, but chose not to.
wtf how do they call that back?
Twitch
#Canucks scored but goal got called off for goaltender interference. As Tocchet says: “Stay out of the blue” #Canucks #GoCanucksGo #NHL
— Canucks Watcher (@canuckswatcher.bsky.social) February 22, 2025 at 9:13 PM
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No matter. Nucks come back on their PP to tie it up. Josh scores!
Or not...
Filip Chytil is denied by Adin Hill. Dakota Joshua pokes the puck into the net but it was after the whistle. 🎥: Sportsnet | NHL #Canucks
— CanucksArmy (@canucksarmy.bsky.social) February 22, 2025 at 9:38 PM
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Nucks are outshooting, outplaying and outscoring (unofficially) the House. Doesn't matter.
Even with the Nucks PP going to work in the final few minutes as a 6-on-4, then 6-on-5 unit couldn't get another, which would be the 4th one, past Hill.
As is expected, Nucks give up the EN goal on the Vegas 14th attempt. Dang it!
Disappointing loss. Not just because it ruined our All Saturdays Belong To Us narrative, but because it ruined our All Saturdays win streak on HNIC.
Well, good 3rd period but too late.
Atty
OBSERVATIONS
We missed Huggie in this game. Team USSA knows what that feels like.
Gnarland didn't have a good game. So... Taco gave him more ice time to compensate.
Sherwood notched hits past 300 on the season with 9 hits in the game. And a pretty apple.
We're still missing EP40. Didn't have a bad game. Didn't have a good game. We don't know what sort of injury he got in the 4 Nations, but wouldn't be surprised if this one stretches out for another year, despite skating faster than any game this year. Finished the night with 0 points, a -1 and 1 hit.
Some chatter on the skies of blue...
Death, taxes, and a blank stat line from Elias Pettersson. #canucks
— The King of Blind Bay (@imrealgoode.bsky.social) February 22, 2025 at 9:47 PM
1 shot on goal and minus 1 for EP40. Soon to be a top 5 paid player in the NHL and has been borderline 3C for a solid year. We’re in trouble. #Canucks
— Phil Figueiredo (@philfigs.bsky.social) February 22, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Good effort in the 3rd. Not a crazy score like some others today. Ofc Lankinen doing his thing. Kept Eichel off the scoresheet, I always love that lol Golden Mustards will always have the ugliest jerseys in the NHL #Canucks
— lady🇨🇦 luck🇨🇦 canuck (@ladyluckcanuck.bsky.social) February 22, 2025 at 9:52 PM
#Canucks won the number-of-pucks-in-the-net thing, which usually works.
— Steve Burgess (@steveburgess53.bsky.social) February 22, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Anything else? Yes!
Saturday games on HNIC are back to being meh.
Video Replay
It's HNIC - and yet we still get Shorty and Dave. That's not so bad, except for the losing thing.
GAME STATS
SHOTS
| PERIOD | VAN | VGK |
| 1st | 9 | 13 |
| 2nd | 10 | 12 |
| 3rd | 19 | 10 |
| TOTAL | 34 | 35 |
PLAYERS 'N TACO TALK
DeBrusk is back on the road scoring goals.
Sherwood talks about hitting records.
Taco Talks about the win.... no, that was last game... instead he talks about the magic of one hundred and one icings.
Nucks start the rest of the season with a tough loss against the best team in the division. That's not so bad.
But it gets worse. Vancouver Hockey Club has to play another hockey club tomorrow. Without Huggie. And by Taco's talk, no Lanky. Can Arty steal a game? We'll find out.
